Method of installing electric outlets and fireproof walls and partitions containing the same.



2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

M A w PATENTED OCT. 9, 1906.

, L. KALISGHER. METHOD OF INSTALLING ELECTRIC OUTLETS AND PIREPROOP WALLS AND PARTITIONS CONTAINING THE SAME APPLICATION FILED SEPT.Z6,1903.

IIIF L PATENTED OCT. 9, 1906.

L L. ,KALISGHER. METHOD OF INSTALLING ELECTRIC OUTLETS AND FIREPROOF WALLS AND PARTITIONS CONTAINING THE SAME. APPLIOATION rnpn SEPT/25,1903.

2 SHEETSSHEBT 2- LL ill/618 L101" part of the same.

n srarns arn'r carica- LOUIS KALlSQHElt, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

METHOD OF INSTALLINGELECTRlC OUTLETS AND FIREPROOF WALLS AND, SAME.

PARTIl'lONS CDNTAINING Tll E Specification of Letters Pat-ant.

Patented Oct. 9, 1906.

Application filed September 25, 1903. Serial No. 174,634.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS KALIsoHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Installing Electric Outlets and Fireproof Walls and Partitions Containing the Same, fully described andrepresent i in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a This invention relates to a method ofinstalling the outlets for electric-light, annunciator, telephone, and other circuits in fireproof walls or partitions, and it also relates to fireproof walls or partitions containing outlets installed in accordance withsuch method. The term, outlet as employed which the circuit-Wires herein is intended to apply generally to those reoe tacles whichare coated in the brickwor ofa fireproofwall or partition and with are connected or through which such circuitwvn'es pass for ets b of the present invention connection with the poles of a switch or other circuit-controlling means, a telephone, a lug, or other devices, some of-these outbeing termed in the trade outletoutlet receptacles, switch 4 outlets,..- switcl1-boxes,'&c. For convenience, however, in the detailed description which will be hereinafter given the improvements will be described particularly in connectionwith the installation of thejoutlets or outlet-boxes ofelectric light and hell or annunciator circuits, such description bemgsuilicient-to instruct those skilled in the art as to how to use the present improvements in the installation of outlets used in other electric systems.

According to the present method of installing electric-light and annunciator or bell systems in fire roof partitions or walls (and this is true aso as to other systems) the brickwork of. the partition or wall is first completed. Chases are then cut therein for iron. conduits which serve as raceways throughwhich the wires maybe drawn, and

i clearances are also out therein for the outlets,

- the location of ously laid out *Work.

these clearances being revi' or indicated upon the rick The' conduits are thenflaid in the chases thus cut for them and the outlets set insuch, clearances, wooden blocks being let into the clearances to which the outlets'are therefore follows screwed. The'outlets are then adjusted in .cured in position by means of cement and the wall or partition is finished, as by plastering, an o ening, however, being left in the plaster in ne with each outlet through which access may he had to the interior of the outlet for the 'pur )ose of drawing the wires through the conduits and outlet and connecting them with the circuit-controlling or other devices located in or connected with the out lets. The electrical work is then completed by securing to the lips or edges of the outlets switch-plates, face-plates, canopies, or the like, which cover up said outlets and the open ings in the plaster in which they are located. This method of installing outlets is objectionable for many reasons, some of which are the following: In the first place, it is expensive,

slow, and laborious in that it requires the completion of the brickwork of the artition or wall and then that portions of t e- )artition or wall be removed to provide the 0 sees and clearances for the conduits and outlets, each of which chases and clearances must be out separately and in the case of the clearances with very great accuracy for reasons which will hereinafter ap car. It is also objectionable because of t e care and skill which must be exercised in the cutting of the clearance for each outlet and in the adjustment or positioning of the outlet in'the clearance in order that such outlet may be in proper alinement with the base-line ofthc partition or wall and also have its edges or ps properly positioned with reference to the surface or plaster line of the wall when the latter is completed. Such accurate cutting of the clearance and -os .tioning of, the outlet therein is necessary or two reasons, In the first place, there is secured toeach outlet a face )late or switch-plate or similar device whic. is exposed upon the surface of theovall i and the position of which upon the surface of the wall is determined by tse position in the brickwork of the outlet whichit covers.

n. that if an outlet be' .,out or,

pro )er alinement with the base-line of the wall or partition the face-plate or switchplate or the like secured thereto will also be correspondingly out of proper position or alinement relatively to thebase of the partition and will thus present an unsightly appearance. In the next place, the face-plates and switch-plates or the like for these outlets are of a standard size designed to be set tightly-against the surface of the plastering,

-and should the outlet be set back too far from the plaster-line long screws will have to be em loyed for the urpose. of securing the faceate or switch-p ate or the like to it, and it will also be necessary to employ a special casing to continue the ironwork of the outlet out to the face of the laster-line in order to comply with the requirements of the underwriters rules, the addition of this special casing making a rather costly and unworkmanlike job. Again,"if the outlet should be so setor positioned in the brickwork of the wall that the edges or lips thereof project beyond the surface of the plaster the only remedy is to cut out the entire outlet, recut the clearance therefor in the brickwork, and. reset and readjust the outlet therein, an item of considerable expense.

It is the object of the present invention to rovide a method of installing electric outets (and a fire roof wall or partition constructed according to the same) in which all of these difficulties are overcome and in which the work of installing such outlets is much simplified and can be performed much more expeditiously than is possible with the methods heretofore racticed. According to the method of insta ling such outlets provided by the present invention the outlets are first introduced into and properly positioned and supported in the space to be occupied by the partition or wall so as to be in proper alinement with the base-line of the partition or wall and so that their outer edges or lips will also be in proper relation to the surface line thereof i partition containing electric-lightand annunclator-circuit outlets installed therein in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a front view of .the same. Fig. i; is a section on the line 3 of Fig. I. Fig. 4 is a detail of thedeviceemployed for supporting and posi tioning the outlets in the space to he occupied by the wall or partition before the latter is built up. Fi 5 is a front View of a wall or partition in w rich are installeda telephone and a plug-outlet in accordance with the present invention in addition to the electric-light and annunciator-ciicuit outlets of Figs. 1, Z, and 3.

Referring to said drawings, and particu larly to Fi s. 1 to 4, A is astandard rectangular vertica frame-piece of a wall or partition, to which the plaster B and the trim (J of a door or window are attached. This framepiece may, and, as shown herein, does serve as the support for the outlet supporting and positioning device I), which wi now be described. It will be understood, however, that any other suitable means, present in the Wall or partition-space either temporarily or permanently, may serve as a support for the device D during the erection of the wall or partition. The positioning and supporting device D is of iron or other suitable material and comprises a base'l and an arm 2, extcnding therefrom, preferably at substantially right angles thereto. T he base 1 is provided near its extremities with holes through which screws 3 may be passed for securing the base to the side 4 of the frameiece A. The base 1 is also provided with a ateral extension 5,

which rests against the side 4 of the frame piece A, and this latter extension is also provided with a downWardly-extcnding portion 6 at right angles thereto, provided with an. opening through which a screw 7 may be passed for the purpose of securing it to the adjacent side 8 of the frame A. By means of this construction of the base 1 the latter conforms to the angle formed by the sides 4 5; of the frame-piece A, and when secured to the sides 4 8 it will be held firmly in position on the framc-piece so that it cannot be pulled away or loosened. The supporting and positioning device I) may be further strcngthsued by the addition of a brace 9, extending from the base i to the arm 2. The base I is such, as will be observed, that it will not only firmly and rigidly support the arm 2 upon the frame-piece A, as just stated, but because of its conformation will when attached to the frame-picce A necessarily assume such a position thereon as to bring the outer edges or lips of the outlets which it supports into the proper position relatively to the plaster-line of the partition or wall, as shown in Fig. 1- that is to say, (according to present methods,) about one thirty-second of an inch behind the plaster-line. I

The arm 2 may be of any suitable length, accm-ding to the number of outlets which it is intended to support. As shown herein, it is designed to support two such outlets and for this purpose is provided with two outletsupporting portions or enlargements H) ll, suitably separated from each other, these portions of the arm 2. between and beyond those outlet-sixpporting portions 11; I] being saaezs preferably reduced or made narrower for the urpose of lightness and economy in menuacture. U p011 these enlarged portions 11 of the arm 2 two outlets 12 13 are su ported, the former, '12, of'which is designed to contain devices for controlling an annunciator circuit, and the latter, 13, of which is or bell designedto contain devices for controlling an electric-light circuit. "Each of these enlar emerits 10 11 upon the arm 2 is provided with zontal position illustrated in the drawings or,

if desired or necessary, in a vertical position, in which latter case the openings 14* would be the openings used for securing the outlets to the'arm 2, the openings 14 being the ones used, as shown, when the arm 2 is arranged in horizontal position.

Outlets for electricdight,annunciator, telephone, and other circuits are all usually made of stahdard sizes, all the outlets of the same kind being made usually of the same size, Outlets of different kinds, however, are made of different sizes, the outlets, as 12, for annunicator or bell work, forinstanee, being of lessdepth than the outlet, as 13, for an electric-light circuit. (See Fig. 1'.) In order, therefore, to adapt the arm 2 for the annunciator-circuit outlet 12 and the electriclight-circuit outlet 13, so that the outer edges or lips of each Will when secured to the arm occupy the proper position relatively to the Plasterdine of the wall or partition the enargement 10 to which the outlet 12 is se cured is raised or offset so as to project 4 slightly beyond the enlargement 11 for en porting the outlet 13, and thus make up tile difference in depth between said outlets l2 and 13, as illustrated inFig. 1. Similarly if the arm 2 be designed to support other outlets than thoseillustrated and which differ slightly in thickness to a greater or less extent than the outlets 12 13 such difference in thickness can. be compensatedfor by suitably thickem ing; or thinning the enlargement 10 or 11, as the case may be, to coin ensate for such difierence, or in the case 0% outlets which may be very. materially shallower than the outlets 12 13 suitable distance pieces maybe interposed between them aim the supportingarm 2, so as to bung their outer edges into proper position with relation to the surface or lasterline of the wall or partition.

n order to have'the outlet or outlets carried by the arm 2 set plumb or true with relation to the base-line 0f the partition or wall when the arm 2 is attached to the frame-piece A, said &

applied to the arm 2 when in horizontal posit on or to the base 1 thereof when" the arm is arranged in vertical position. I prefer, however, to provide the arm 2 with a rib 17 for receiving the spirit-level when the arm is in horizontal position and with a second rib l8 at right angles thereto for receiving the spirit 1 level when the arm is arranged in vertical position.

In the installation of the outlets 12 13in fireproof walls or partitions according tothe present inventionthe positioning and supporting device D 15 first introduced into the Space to'be occupied by the wall or parti tion when built and attached or secured m the manneitheretofore described to the frame iiece A or to an T other suitable su port present temporari y or permanently in the space to be occupied by the wall or partition. When so secured, a spirit -level is applied to the arm 2 or its base 1 (or to the rib 17 or 18} according as the arm 2 is arranged in horizontal or vertical position, and if any change is shown by the spirit-level to be necessary in the position of the arm 2 in order that it and the outlet or outlets thereon shall be in proper alineinent relatively to the base line oi the partition such change may bernsde by loosening one or the other of the screws in the base 1 and then properly ad;

justing the arm 2 and securing it in its position of adjustment. After the arm 2 has been properly positioned the brickwork of the wall or artition, usually consisting of blocks 20 of re-brick, will be built up around the outlets 12 13 and the arm 2, so that said brickwork will 'inclose said outlets and arm, chases being cut in the wall as it is thus built up for the Wire-conduits 21. When the Wall is built and the plaster applied thereto, the circuit-wires will be drawn through the conduits and 'nto the outlets 12 13 and be connected wit 1 circuit-controlling devices coin tallied therein, which in the case shown are outer edges or lips of the outlets 12 13 in the usual manner, as illustrated in Fig.

Although the present invention hasbccn described in detail in connection with outlets for electric-light and annunciator circuits, it is to be understood that it is also useful in connection with outlets and the lllslzlllullon thereof of other kinds of circuits and whether such outlets contain circuil- -nntrolling mean or notx For example, it may he used in co nection with the outlet for u telephone-c--r-- cult (the loose-board of which forms. in attract. the facelate) or an outlet-plug, nsillustrated in fig. 5. it may also be used in out:- lets which do not contain circuit-controlling devices,

'What is claimed is" arm maybe leveled by means of a spirit-level 1. A fireproof wall or partition containing electric-circuit wires and a positioning electric-circuit wires and a ositioning and supporthig arm extending a ong the wall or partition with an outlet thereon for said wires, the wall or partition being built about said arm and outlet so as to inclose the same, substantially as described.

2. A fireproof wall or partition containing an supporting arm extending along the wall or partition with a plurality of outlets thereon suitably se arated from each other longitudinally of t e arm, the wall or partition being built about said arm and outlets so as to inelose the same, substantially as described.

A fireproof wall or partition containing electric-circuit wires and a positioning and supporting arm extending along the wall or partition with an outlet thereon for said wires, the Wall or partition being built about said arm and outlet so as to inclose the same, an opening being provided in the'surfacb the wall or partition through which access may be had to the outlet, and a face-plate on l the wall or partition covering said opening and outlet, substantially as described.

7 4. A fireproof wall or partition containing electric-circuit wires and a. positioning and l supporting arm extending along the wall or l partition "with a plurality of outlets thereon suitably se arated from each other longitudinally of t e arm, the wall or partition being close the same, openings being provided in the surface of the wall or partition through the outlets, and covering built about said arm and outlets so as to inwhich access may he had to face-plates on the wall or partition said openings and outlets, substantially as I In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

\ d ascribed. l

Witnesses:

J. A. GRAVES, W. H. Knnaanri Louis KALISCHER. 

